“But… he keeps looking over here without coming to say hi. I’m sure he knows it’s you, Jae-ha oppa.”
Min-hee was still whispering. The moment she’d spotted Hae-hyun, she had leaned in with, “Oh, looks like that Phys. Ed guy came too.” Ever since, she hadn’t stopped: “He keeps making eye contact with me,” “He’s staring at you a lot, oppa.” Her endless chatter was giving him a headache.
“…He’s just shy. Leave him alone.”
Only after Jae-ha tossed out that blatant lie did Min-hee finally nod as if convinced. Just then, thankfully, their curry arrived.
“Oooh, this looks so good. Thanks for the meal~”
Her attention snapped instantly to the food, and she grinned. When Jae-ha gave her a small nod, Min-hee brightened even more and happily mixed her rice into the curry.
Today was the day he’d promised to treat her. He owed her—after all, she’d looked out for him during the MT, and he’d ditched her at the festival without a word. Feeling guilty, Jae-ha had suggested buying her dinner to settle that debt. Conveniently, he was free since all his plans had fallen through, and Min-hee had chosen this curry place near campus.
“Can’t believe I’m getting a meal out of you, oppa.”
“Look at that. After all the times I’ve treated you, you don’t even remember…”
That complaint made all the money he’d spent on juniors feel wasted. He grumbled half-jokingly, and Min-hee burst out laughing.
“No, I don’t mean it like that. I just mean—it’s the first time it’s just us. There were always others around before.”
“You guys are always glued together anyway.”
It wasn’t like Jae-ha was running a charity, inviting juniors every time he ate. It just so happened that whenever it was mealtime, they were always there in a pack, so he pulled out his card. That was all.
“I’m totally bragging to the others later—telling them I went on a date with Jae-ha oppa.”
“What’s there to brag about…”
“Bet someone already posted on social media: ‘Is that girl eating with the business department guy his girlfriend?’”
“……”
“Want me to jump in and be your shield?”
Her mischievous grin was cute in its own way, but not enough to cross a line. Jae-ha only shrugged.
“Just leave a comment saying it’s not like that.”
“I know, I’m teasing.”
She smiled as if it was nothing and chewed her curry. Jae-ha also went back to eating. For a moment it was quiet—until she piped up again.
“By the way, how’s Juju these days? Doing well?”
For a second, the words didn’t register. That’s the problem with lies—you have to keep building on them. Pretending calm, Jae-ha blinked and scrambled for an answer, finally managing one with just enough pause to sound natural.
“Yeah.”
That too was a lie. He couldn’t exactly say, That dog is sitting alone at the table right behind us, staring at me. So he played it off, and Min-hee chattered on, oblivious.
“Not many people keep such a big dog. So majestic and cute… Can I come by sometime to see Juju? With the others, of course.”
“He’s kind of shy.”
“Really? Wow, there are a lot of shy ones around you, oppa. That Phys. Ed kid too.”
Naturally, she didn’t even imagine that the dog and that kid were the same person. Jae-ha could only murmur another vague, “Something like that.”
“Oh! He looked this way again. Do you think he realized we were talking about him? No way he could hear us though.”
Stop staring already. Jae-ha nearly turned to say it outright, but bit his tongue. At this point, it almost seemed easier to grab Hae-hyun and ask why the hell he was acting like this.
Jae-ha struggled not to fall into another pit of misunderstanding, but this was way beyond coincidence.
Sure, he could excuse Hae-hyun showing up in lectures with Su-min. But running into him every single time he went to campus—despite almost no overlap in their schedules—and bumping into him at nearly every restaurant? No way that was just chance.
Hae-hyun was tall, broad, and striking. Wherever he went, people stared, and Jae-ha could feel the whispers around them. It wasn’t like he was blind or deaf.
And while Jae-ha himself had never caught him looking, everyone else swore he was. They insisted Hae-hyun always knew exactly where Jae-ha was—and kept staring. To anyone, it was obvious: Hae-hyun was there because of him.
The strangest part was that despite all this, Hae-hyun never once spoke to him.
Ever since leaving home, he hadn’t sent a single message longer than one character. At first, that stung a little. Now it was just baffling. Out of all of Hae-hyun’s bizarre, incomprehensible habits, this one was the most extreme.
“Why is he like that…”
Apparently he’d muttered it out loud, because Min-hee’s eyes widened.
“So you two did fight?”
“I told you, it’s not that.”
“Oh, come on. Tell me. It’s not like I know him personally.”
Her coaxing tone was sweet as honey, dangerous as a devil’s whisper. Ugh. After a pause, Jae-ha finally admitted:
“…I kind of said the wrong thing, and ever since then he’s been like this.”
“You? Said the wrong thing?”
Her disbelief was obvious. She was so earnestly sympathetic that Jae-ha almost blurted out the truth: Even I didn’t think I’d end up confessing like that.
“Wow, that’s hard to picture. But if he’s still hanging around like that, then he must not be that angry, right?”
That was… a novel perspective. Jae-ha muttered back:
“He’s been ignoring me nonstop.”
“Really?”
Min-hee tilted her head.
“Maybe he’s just sulking. If he really wanted to ignore you, he’d avoid you completely.”
“…You think so?”
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed possible. Wanting to believe, Jae-ha perked up, and Min-hee, encouraged, spoke faster.
“Yeah. If he keeps hovering nearby, isn’t that just him saying, ‘Pay attention to me’? Like he wants you to calm him down. He’s still a kid, right? How old is he?”
“Twenty-one.”
“See? Still a kid.”
Min-hee, twenty-three, declared it with total confidence—so confidently it almost sounded convincing.
Yeah… maybe she was right. If Hae-hyun truly hated him, he would’ve avoided him altogether. On such a big campus, that was easy. The real oddity was how often they crossed paths despite being in different departments.
And yet, Hae-hyun kept showing up near him. Which meant… he still wanted something.
Wait—hold on.
“So if you apologize and smooth things over, I bet things will go back to normal.”
But the reason Hae-hyun was upset was because of his confession. To “smooth things over” would mean taking it back. Realizing that, Jae-ha’s face stiffened.
The confession might’ve been blurted out clumsily, but it was real. He did like Hae-hyun—so much it had grown beyond his control. Even now, being ignored while still somehow singled out, that hadn’t changed.
But to mend things, he’d have to deny the very words he’d spoken.
The choice was brutal: keep liking him while being ignored, or pretend not to like him just to stay friends. Between those two extremes, the latter was probably safer… but it wasn’t an easy choice to make. His expression darkened.
“So I really do need to apologize.”
“Of course. You said you slipped up, didn’t you? Then you should apologize for it.”
Her tone was so firm there was no room to argue.
“…Yeah.”
With a heavy voice, Jae-ha refilled Min-hee’s empty glass. The deeper this mess went, the heavier his sighs became.
After buying Min-hee a coffee for her student council meeting, Jae-ha trudged off alone. On a whim, he glanced around, but Hae-hyun was nowhere in sight—not even a stray lock of hair.
Had he already left? After spending so much time chasing ghosts, was he turning into one himself? With the way Hae-hyun moved, disappearing and reappearing like that, he could’ve been mistaken for a modern-day Hong Gil-dong*.
*Note: Hong Gil-dong is a Korean folk hero similar to Robin Hood, who was impressive with his stealth and agility abilities.
